Ball retriever

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for gathering balls such as golf balls lying on a practice field. A wheel which assists in supporting the apparatus for rolling movement cooperates with a fixed disc and lifts the balls and delivers them into a receptacle carried by the apparatus.

United States Patent l l l 1 Inventors August W. Gustafson;

Edna L. Gustafson, both of 350 Pasadena Place, Corpus Christi, Tex. 9840B Appl. No. 52,183 Filed July 6, 1970 Patented Dec. 28, 1971 BALL RETRIEVER 3 Claims, 8 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 214/356, 56/328 Int. Cl 860p 1/00 Field of Search 214/356; 56/323 References (Iited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,566,893 3/1971 Richardson 214/356 X 3,306,480 2/1967 Wysong 214/356 2,605,005 7/1952 Wenzel et al. 2l4/356 Primary Examiner-Albert J. Makay Attorney-Clelle W. Upchurch ABSTRACT: Apparatus for gathering balls such as golf balls lying on a practice field. A wheel which assists in supporting the apparatus for rolling movement cooperates with a fixed disc and lifts the balls and delivers them into a receptacle carried by the apparatus.

Patented Dec. 28, 1971 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 v T K Patented Dec. 28, 1971 3 Sheets-Sheet Z mm \"1 0/43 am T144 605 77/50,

0/144 L. GUJTAFSO/V ATTUHWJY Patented Dec. 28, 1971 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 0/VA 4. G05 54/5 0/1/ jaws 71446067; 50%

BALL nemmvsn The present invention relates to apparatus for retrieving golf balls or the like and the invention more specifically pertains to equipment which diverts the balls laterally on the ground and into a position forward of a wheel which supports a rear portion of mechanism for rolling movement and which cooperates with a fixed member to lift the balls and deliver them into a receptacle carried by the apparatus.

In the equipment employed in the past for retrieving balls from a practice field, a multitude of rotatable discs have been employed for lifting the balls and it is an object of the present invention to provide structure which diverts the balls laterally on the ground and into position aligned with a wheel assembly which receives and lifts the balls and delivers them into a container.

Another object of the invention is to provide a ball-retrieving mechanism with a gathering means which follows the contour of the practice field and moves the balls laterally to a position in front of a wheel which serves to support a rear portion of the apparatus and cooperates with a stationary member to lift and deliver the balls into a receptacle.

Other objects and features of the invention will be appreciated and become apparent as the present disclosure proceeds and become apparent as the present disclosure proceeds and upon consideration of the accompanying drawings taken in conjunction with the following detailed description wherein an embodiment of the invention is disclosed.

In the drawings:

- FIG. 1 is a plan view of apparatus embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of a portionof the frame and the; support for one of the rear wheels.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary side elevational view of one of the rear wheels with portions broken away to illustrate the stationary disc member.

FIG..7 is a sectional view taken on the line 7-7 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary plan view taken on the line 8-8 of FIG. 6.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown at 10 an elongated plate which is supported at its forward end by a castor-type wheel 11. Another elongated plate- 12 is supported at its forward end by a castor-type wheel 14. The plate 12 is disposed at an acute angle with respect to the plate 10 and these plates converge in proceeding rearwardly. The plate 10 carries a bar 16 which extends therealong and it is supported above the plate 10 in position to prevent a ball from bouncing over the upper edge of the plate 10. A similar bar 17 is carried by the plate 12. The plates 10 and 12 are adapted to be supported with their lower edges closely adjacent the surface of a practice field and to divert the balls laterally as the assembly moves forwardly to an area indicated at 18 in FIG. 1. In order to prevent the escape of balls under the lower edges of the plates 10 and 12, a plurality of strap members 19 (FIG. 3) are mounted on the plates for pivoting movements. The straps are adapted to swing downwardly and serve to bar the escape of balls under the lower edges of the plates 10 and 12. The straps 19 each have an arcuate shaped rear end portion which act to deflect the balls inwardly from the associated plate.

In the embodiment shown in the drawings, two gathering arrangements are illustrated and such assembly provides structure which is supported at the rear end for rolling movement by two wheels which also form parts of devices for lifting the balls. Another plate 20 is supported at its forward end by the castor-type wheel 21. A diverging plate 22 is supported at its forward end by the wheel 14. The plate 20 is equipped with an overhanging bar 24 and a similar overhanging bar 26 is carried by the plate 22.

The plate 10 is mounted for pivoting movement on a frame element 28 by means of a bolt 27. The plate 20 is similarly mounted on a frame element 29 to pivot about a bolt 31. Thus the forward ends of the plate 10 may swing upwardly or downwardly so that the lower edge thereof follows the terrain of a practice field. The forward end of the plate 20 may swing upwardly or downwardly so that the lower edge follows the ground contour. The hinge action takes place about the axis of the bolts 27 and 31. The forward portions of the gathering mechanism is connected by rods 33 and 34 which join brackets carried by the forward end portions of the plates 10 and 20. The axis of the end portion 36 of the rod 33 is aligned with the axis of the bolt 31 as indicated by the line 30. The axis of the end portion 37 of the rod 34 is similarly aligned with the axis of the bolt 27. If the turf over which the central or forward portion of the assembly moves is low, the wheel 14 will follow the terrain so that the central portion of the ball gathering structure may follow the contour of the ground. The hinge action takes place at the bolts 27 and 31 and at the connections 36 and 37 for the rods 33 and 34. A tongue 41 may be provided along with braces 42 and 43 whereby the ball gathering assembly may be pulled by a suitable tractor or the like.

The frame elements 28 and 29 are connected by transverse bars 51 and 52. These bars provide connection means for the rear portion of the gathering mechanisms and provide means for supporting two receptacles 56 and 57. A wheel indicated at 61 is provided for supporting the rear portion of one ballgathering structure and a similar wheel 62 is provided for supporting the rear portion of the other ball-gathering structure.

The structure of each rear wheel and the associated members for lifting the balls and delivering them into the receptacles 56 and 57 will best be understood from consideration of FIGS. 5 to 8. A disc member 64 is mounted on the frame 29 in fixed relationship thereto by means which includes a capscrew 66 (FIG. 4). The disc 64 carries a shaft 67. The shaft 67 provides a journal for the wheel 61. The wheel 61 supports one rear portion of the ball-gathering means for rolling movement. The wheel 61 is maintained in spaced relationship from the disc 64 by an end surface 65 of the disc 64 which supports the shaft 67. A helical spring 68 surrounds the shaft 67 as shown in FIG. 1 and urges the wheel 61 towards the disc 64.

The disc associated with the other rear wheel 62 is indicated at 74. This disc, along with the disc 64, carries a series of resilient projections 69 which extend laterally from the face thereof. A notch 71 (FIG. 7) is provided in each disc approximately. at the 12 oclock position. The inner lateral face of each wheel 61 and 62 carries resilient lateral projections 72. These projections extend toward those carried by the associated disc. A cam 73 is carried by each disc adjacent the notch 71 therein. The wheels 61 and 62 provide support for rolling movement at the rear of the ball-gathering structure and cooperate with the discs 64 and 74 for lifting and delivering the balls into the receptacles 56 and57.

In operation and as the apparatus is moved forwardly by power applied to the tongue 41, and balls lying on the practice field are diverted by the plates 10 and 12 to a position indicated at 18 and directly forward of the space between the wheel 62 and the disc 74. The balls gathered by the plates 20 and 22 arrive in a position forwardly of the space between the wheel 61 and the disc 64. The balls move one after another between the resilient projections carried by the wheel and the resilient projections carried by the associated disc. Each ball rolls on the projections carried by the disc member by rotation of the associated wheel. As the balls arrive at a position opposite the notch 71, they are deflected laterally therethrough by the cam 73 and the balls drop into the receptacles 56 and 57.

While the invention has been described and illustrated with regard to retrieving mechanism which includes two gathering structures, it will be appreciated that additional gathering units may be added with wheels for supporting the rear portion of additional ball-gathering means. Such changes and others may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims What is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent 1. ln apparatus for retrieving balls from the ground, a frame including plates which diverge from each other in proceeding forwardly, wheels supporting the forward ends of the plates, a rear wheel supporting the rear end of said frame, a disc member carried by said frame adjacent said rear wheel, said plates being positioned for guiding balls into a space between the disc and said rear wheel, resilient projections carried by a side face of the rear wheel confronting said disc, said disc, having resilient projections confronting the resilient projections on the rear wheel, said disc having an opening in the upper peripheral portion, a receptacle carried by the frame 

1. In apparatus for retrieving balls from the ground, a frame including plates which diverge from each other in proceeding forwardly, wheels supporting the forward ends of the plates, a rear wheel supporting the rear end of said frame, a disc member carried by said frame adjacent said rear wheel, said plates being positioned for guiding balls into a space between the disc and said rear wheel, resilient projections carried by a side face of the rear wheel confronting said disc, said disc having resilient projections confronting the resilient projections on the rear wheel, said disc having an opening in the upper peripheral portion, a receptacle carried by the frame adjacent said disc, and a cam between the disc and the wheel for deflecting balls into the receptacle.
 2. In apparatus for retrieving balls from the ground according to claim 1 including strap members mounted for hinged movement on said plates for engaging the ground.
 3. In apparatus for retrieving balls from the ground according to claim 1, including a bar carried by each plate above the upper edge thereof preventing balls from escaping over to upper edge thereof. 